The life course of Canadian women: An historical and demographic analysis

The life course of Canadian women over the last 100–150 years is examined, using data extracted from census and vital statistics publications. Cohort analysis and synthetic cohort analysis are employed as means to focus upon changes in the occurrence and timing of age-related life course transitions related to the family. Three substantive themes emerge: the increased predictability, standardization, and compression in age-related family life course transitions. Major changes and continuities are outlined, as well as implications related to the atypical life course experience of the cohorts of women who produced the “baby boom,” and to the emergence of temporally-related mechanisms of social control.